In order to prevent erosion, to maintain or improve the organic characteristics, structure and/or nutrition level on a field, farmers plant cover crops or green manure crops after their main harvest. In some regions, for example in the whole of Europe, this is obligated to some degree by law since 2015, and might further depend on country specific rules. Traditionally, it required a tractor and implement to go over the field to plant the cover crops after the combine has finished harvesting the main crop. This creates an added machine cost and operator cost as well as extra traffic over the field thereby increasing compaction of the ground surface.
DE 3626612 discloses a combine wherein a seed dispensing system is mounted at a lower back end of the combine body. The advantage of this disclosure is that a field can be harvested and a cover crop or green manure crop can be planted in one go. The combine is adapted to perform both actions at the same time. This relieves the operator from the requirement to use a tractor and implement to go over the field to be planted after the combine is finished harvesting the main crop. When the combine with the seed dispensing system has passed over the field, the field is harvested, and is provided with new seeds in a single operation.
A drawback of the known system is that the seed dispensing system requires a significant amount of mounting space and requires a significantly large opening at the combine body so that seeds can be dispensed and divided onto the field.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a more efficient seed dispensing system.